District News

Seattle one of seven school districts to receive Race to the Top funds

Photo courtesy of PSESD
From left: Robert Neu, Superintendent of Federal Way Public Schools; Phyllis Silling, President of Renton Education Association; Lee Vargas, Superintendent of Kent School District; Susan Enfield, Superintendent of Highline Public Schools; Mary Alice Heuschel, Superintendent of Renton School District; John Welch, Superintendent of Puget Sound ESD; Mary Jean Ryan, Executive Director of Community Center for Education Results (CCER); Pete Lewis, Mayor of the City of Auburn; José Banda, Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools; and Kip Herren, Superintendent of Auburn School District.
School districts to get a combined $40 million in funds to improve education

Seattle Public Schools is one of seven King County School Districts that will receive a combined $40 million in federal Race to the Top grant funds, according to a U.S. Department of Education announcement Tuesday.

Seattle is part of the “The Road Map District Consortium” that includes Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Kent, Renton and Tukwila school districts. The seven districts wrote a joint grant application for the Road Map Project – a collaborative effort to dramatically improve education in South Seattle and South King County.

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda said the grant funds will be directed toward the district’s efforts to narrow and eventually close the achievement gap.

“This funding will directly help our students and schools in Seattle and South King County,” Banda said. “We are so pleased to be a part of this joint effort between the school districts and communities in our region. And I want to especially thank the Road Map Project for leading this effort.”

The King County districts’ application was among 16 winners selected out of 372 applications. Awards ranged from $5 million to $40 million, depending on the number of students served by the plan. The Road Map District Consortium was one of only two applicants to win the maximum award of $40 million.

The Puget Sound Educational Service District will serve as the lead agency responsible for overall project management and function as the fiscal agent.

More details about the award and how the grant will be implemented can be found here.